The creations coming out of Sector67 truly come in all forms—from woodworking, to electronics, to sewing—there really is a bit of everything. Kate Baldwin has been pushing innovative limits in yet another area, wedding invitations. Originally, coming to Sector67 to learn how to weld, this project quickly took over her free time in preparation for her and her fiancée’s special day. Each one of the cards and envelopes was individually laser-cut, then folded and glued into the artistic invitation shown below. To get a better idea of what all was involved (because there are A LOT of steps!), take a look at the great videos and photos on Kate’s wedding website. Can’t wait to see what she welds!

Dr. Kate Baldwin earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Cellular and Molecular Biology and currently works as a freelance scientific visual communicator. Check out her website: K8Baldwin.com

Argentinian designer, Adrian Pereyra, moved to Madison about two years ago without any tools, “not even a screwdriver”. As a freelance designer, who has designed everything from a small-scale wind turbine to displays for Heineken, this could have been a huge problem. “Sector67’s space and collection of tools not only allowed me to continue building my designs, but also to network with a community of makers that I could learn from”, says Adrian.

Noto, a wind generator resulting from a group project Adrian worked on while studying industrial design at the University of Buenos Aires

Not only does Adrian use green building materials but also transports himself and his materials in sustainable way

Adrian is an avid biker and an advocate for more greenly produced and longer lasting products. “I like to save as much as I can before it heads to a landfill”, continues Adrian. Many of the materials for his work are salvaged from construction scraps and old furniture that is left outside. Adrian also aims to use as little plastic, glue, and other chemicals as possible. Almost all of his projects are constructed at Sector67.

The work of Adrian can be found at Change on Willy Street

In those two years, his work has already become visible around Madison at Change (above) and Iona, clothing stores where Adrian designed the interior and built the displays. He also aided in the design of A Place To Be, a meeting space to encourage dialogue about relevant social issues. In addition, Adrian is working on a few smaller products, including TiTO (below). Sector67 provides space that allows Adrian and other makers and designers to work on projects visible throughout Madison, contributing to what makes our dear city so great.

TiTO, a wooden toy bike made from wood without the use of glue or other chemicals

Kemper presents his kinetic artwork, “Mirror”, recently on display at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Davi Post and Tanya Cunningham present and explain some of the steps necessary in commercializing their new release of img2track, software which reads images into a knitting machine.

Chris presents his new creation, Raspiado, a USB hub that fits onto a Raspberry Pi micro-computer.

Mike from Hackaday presenting his rotating LED display.

Joe Kerman presents the new Sector67 bar bike (somewhat visible on screen), which just made its maiden voyage at Ride the Drive this past weekend. He also showed off the first run of Sector67 patches fresh off the Sector67 embroidery machine (credits to Jim for his work getting the machine running and making the patches). Get yours now, only $7.99!

Bike enthusiasts, Dylan Hughes and partner, were able to combine their passions for biking, recycling, and quality products with their new business WiscoWood. Together these entrepreneurial craftsmen hand make bike-related products from reclaimed wood and other scrap materials.

A WiscoWood “Chain Link Wallet” made with reclaimed wood and a blown bike tire inner tube

The duo first came to Sector67 to learn woodworking and laser cutting, but without a specific project in mind. After a few experimental laser-cut puzzles and tic-tac-toe boards, the thought of starting a business based on their love for bicycles and sustainable principles emerged last November. WiscoWood now offers an array of unique products including wallets, earrings, and coasters for sale on their website, and is currently working to fill its first corporate order. They heavily credit Sector67 for making their business possible by providing access to tools and processes that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive to buy or have done.

The process starts with waste wood, which is crafted into WiscoWood’s one-of-a-kind products

“Many of the items we use in today’s society are made too cheaply and we throw too much away. This is simply not sustainable”, says Dylan. WiscoWood’s products are made almost completely from recycled materials, including all recycled wood and an assortment of used bike parts, including used chains and tire inner tubes. Not only are their products made from recycled materials, but they are also built to last and have the character that encourages their long-term use.

Check out their website for more about WiscoWood and a full list of their products:

Our neighbors around the corner are closing shop with a final exhibit coming up on June 6th from 5-9PM featuring work that received some assistance from one of our members. Swing in to check it out, more information check out their Facebook page or see below:

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Madison, WI – Absolutely Art & Café Zoma are proud to feature a group show entitled, “A Discourse on Love.” This exhibit, featuring over 45 artists, is the final culmination of a 9 month project by local artist Mallory Shotwell, called the “Study of Love.” This is a eclectic evening will feature fine art, interactive projects, performance art, live music and much more! Join us on Friday, June 6th from 5p-9p. Enjoy meeting the artists; view their work, participate in a project, share your story of love, catering by Bunky’s Cafe & live music! This is a very special reception for Absolutely Art. After 9 years of First Friday Artist Receptions, June is our final event. We are thrilled to have hosted over 100 receptions and events over the years.

A Discourse on Love is an artistic and philosophical discourse on love in Madison, Wisconsin. The mission of the project is to connect community through collective experiences of love and explore the wide spectrum and many expressions that are within it.

A Discourse on Love is a three part project: 100 interviews, monthly community arts workshops, and the finale of the project is an exhibition featuring over 40 artists each creating new pieces that explores love of all kinds.

The interviews are the foundation of the project – where community arts facilitator Mallory Shotwell interviewed people in the city of Madison. Visiting a hospice, schools, many coffee shops around, and many more locations, she was able to gather wisdom from all backgrounds and ages. Asking philosophical questions on love, it created a discourse where it allowed the participant to explore their own answer.

The community arts workshops invited participants to create either art or an experience together. Inspired by PostSecret, there were dropboxes placed around town, collecting love letters that were written, but not given. This idea was well-received, as there was an outpouring of letters of all kinds. There has also been a storytelling night, Valentine’s Day card making, a day exploring the gifts of love, and a variety show with comedy and music.

The opening reception to the project will be Friday, June 6 at Absolutely Art from 5-9pm. Join us for an immersive experience that encourages the community to connect and engage with love: its expressions, and its spectrum of experiences. There will be many interactive elements available, including a robot that writes love letters, a listening booth, and materials from the many community arts workshops, tables with typewriters and cards from local card-makers to write to loved ones. There will also be events throughout the evening of the reception: performance artists, music, a tarot card reader, and much more. The art will be displayed June 6-28th.

Brothers, Liam and Alec, spent their Thursday night at Sector67 working on their high-tech projects. Alec has been working on hacking a Nintendo GameCube, which he has wired to a screen from a retail kiosk. Tonight he successfully hooked sound up to his system. Liam spent the evening working on 3D printing components for a 3D printer that he is constructing this summer. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Sector67 just added a blow molder and extruder to its makerspace yesterday. Although the first attempts with the blow molder and a coin barrel mold were a little rough, a lot has been learned, and a few containers recognizable as coin barrels have already been made.

The current goal with the extruder is to be able to produce filament that could be used in the many 3D printers here at Sector67. This would allow old 3D printed prototypes to be ground back up into pellets, extruded into filament, and recycled for more 3D printing.

Speakers: Hear from Henry Schwartz, Co-Founder of the crowd-sourced brewery MobCraft as well as Kelda Roys, Founder of the real estate tech startup OpenHomes.

Mentors: Get advice from experienced entrepreneurs and service providers who will be there to help.

Connect: Meet other entrepreneurs of all levels and skill sets.

Fun (and Educational!): You’ll have a great time, and learn a ton over the weekend.

Startup Weekend is a true risk-free environment and a great opportunity for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs to gain valuable entrepreneurial experiences and put their unique skill sets to use, meet great people, and have fun. The last 2 events brought together 100 people for a weekend to work on some exciting projects. People of all different backgrounds and with all different skills are encouraged to participate. Organizing partners for the event include Capital Entrepreneurs, Sector67, The Doyenne Group, UW-Madison, MATC, Edgewood College, and Madworks Coworking. Sponsors include Google, Neider & Boucher, American Family Insurance, WEDC, gener8tor, Earthling Interactive, Fine Point Consulting, and University Research Park.

We’ll mend your clothes for free! We’ll do most small jobs such as hem your pants, shorten your dress, repair ripped seams, patch a hole, and replace a zipper or a button or two. We won’t fix luggage or do other more demanding jobs, but are happy to evaluate a repair job and make recommendations. We have most supplies on hand, but if you want to provide items, such as buttons, zippers, or thread for a particular match, we’re happy to use them.

We were delighted at the wonderful turnout at our first event in January. In anticipation of a similar turnout, we’re going to ask you to sign-in on a list and write a few words about what you need mended. We’ll take jobs in the order on the list and give them to the mender whose skills are the best match. We’ll take two small mending jobs per person or one larger job. Enjoy a cup of tea and cookie while you wait.

Note: If there’s a large turnout, we may not be able to get to your job in the timeframe of the event… but we will be back at a future date to be announced on the Sector67 list.

Stop in at Sector to have your clothing items repaired, stay for a nice cozy chat! Bring your repair project for us to look at and we will try to help. 3 sewists will be on hand to evaluate and repair your clothing items. Keep serviceable clothing out of landfills and on your person, where it belongs.

Services offered: Mending, hemming, zippers, buttons, snaps, hooks replaced. Also, if you have knit fabric clothing (sweatshirts and athletic clothing), we will have overlock machines available for those kinds of repairs, too.

FeLion Studios and Sector67 are proud to announce our 3rd partnership on a community iron pour, taking place on February 8th at Sector67. Please stop out anytime until the 8th to purchase your very own iron molds and have poured as part of the event (you can also stop in first thing in the morning on the 8th and carve a mold):

We have two hearts for $25 or a tile pattern for $20 (limited quantities are available so please stop in to pick them up if you’re interested!), both of which can be customized to your liking and forever cast into iron:

Creating your own heart is easy, you can modify any aspect of the mold:
Just remember a few rules:

Mold modification is messy, so lay the mold on a cardboard box or plastic bag to dispose of the excess sand.

Remember to draw everything backwards, it’s a mold, not a finished product, so everything will be reversed when it’s poured!

Sharpie your design first and carve following your lines

Use any pointy implement you’d like but we’d advise against using any power tools as they can create dust that you don’t want to inhale (AKA: wear a mask with power tool work)

Return your molds a few days before the pour up until EARLY the morning of the pour

Even if you aren’t interested in making your own cast iron artwork, please join us for music, great company, and a fun spectacle while the iron is poured: